And I helped!

I was thumbing through the thumbnails when I came across this picture. I didn't know this even happened until now. I have a perfect wife. I love you my Sara!

Ours is More Sincere Than Yours

Every year we tell ourselves that we're going to go to a real pumpkin patch to find our jack-o-lantern bodies, but before we know it Halloween is the next day and we end up picking pumpkins at Sam's Club. This year we made it a point to find the most sincere pumpkin patch in the area from which to extract our gourds. Wow that's a strange sentence.

Our friend Christie recommended Barthel farms in Mequon, which also includes acres and acres of pick-your-own apple orchards. We picked a peck or so and I'm still trying my hardest to eat them all before they turn into smelly apple goo. Zoe very much enjoyed pushing the pumpkin wagon around the patch, and she nibbled on every apple she could get a hold of. Can you believe there are actual people out there that know how to turn pumpkins into a food item? We searched the farm, but weren't able to find a tree bearing cans of pumpkin pie filling. I assume we were there too early for that harvest. Autumn is such a cool season.

Gumby could always bend, but now he flip-flops too!

The whole reason I started this blog in the first place is because I wanted to be like my buddy Mike. He began his blog while doing an internship in Senator Orrin Hatch's Washington DC office a few summers ago, and he always included pictures of any and all senators he saw/met while there. So now its my turn. I was at a meeting at work on Tuesday (I'm always in a meeting at work nowadays) and we heard a bunch of ruckus outside. We looked out the window and saw the longest man in the world shouting into a HUGE crowd of up to 35 people about the Demo-god (that's half Democrat, half God), Barack Obama. This man was unmistakably John Kerry, you can actually tell from the tenth floor. I went on out there to get a better look, and there I stood not ten feet away from the man that was hourly news four years ago. Did I mention that he is a very long person?

So there are 18 days until the election, I know this because election day happens to be exam day for me this year. I still don't know who I'm going to vote for as President of these United States. Out here in Wisconsin we are exposed to 12 campaign commercials an hour (we counted last night)...and all they do is just cause me to dislike both of the candidates. I'm finally living in a state where my vote counts, so I don't want to mess this up for everyone. I think I'll just vote for the candidate who makes up the best new word during the debates. So far, that gives Barack my vote, thanks to his invention of the word "enbolden". Although McCain giving Joe the Plumber the last name of Wertzenberger when its really Wertzenbacher puts me right back on the fence.

Don't worry, I'll post another blog soon so we can get Senator Gumby off the top of the blog.

Al Capone: Bad, Bad Man

Sara and I have become unofficial Al Capone afficionados. This wasn't a role we sought after, rather it was thrust upon us due to our unquenchable need to understand the roots of our new-found Mid West culture. Also, there's something fascinating about the mob, its sorta like that dead raccoon just off the road, you don't want to go shake its hand, or date its daughter, but you can't turn your head away as you drive by as quickly as possible.

A few days before we moved to Wisconsin we consulted the internet in search of a list of the reputable people that have lived in this fine state. Among the listed we found that Al Capone had two hideouts in Wisconsin, one up in the North Woods somewhere (we plan to find it in the Spring) and the other one right here in Brookfield. We stored this information somewhere in the cache of our brain files and went on with life, never knowing that Al's hideout was in the subdivision next to ours. We took a little hike around the corner to what is now called Capone Court and snapped some pictures of Capone's creepy old house. The place sticks out like a sore thumb, being the only one in the cul-de-sac that was built pre-1970's. People actually live in this place! Can you imagine how awesome it would be to brag to your friends and family that you live in the house once owned by the world's most notorious mobster? Very awesome. I hope they don't mind me taking pictures, no one shot at me with a Tommy gun from the patio, so I imagine it was alright.

You should get on the internet and learn more about Al Capone. He was the ne'er-do-well of ne'er-do-wells. The real irony about the whole story is that after all his shenanigans, he was finally sent to Alcatraz on tax evasion charges. Those Untouchables would not have gotten my vote for G-men of the year. To make it even worse, his ultimate demise wasn't getting all shot up Bonnie and Clyde style, rather, after completing both of his prison terms in California he died of cardiac arrest brought on by syphilis. I take comfort in knowing that he went totally nutso in those last few years. Super sleuth Sara found out that Al's grave is located just outside of O'hare Airport, so we stopped by last week after I flew in from recruiting at BYU. Yeah, we really like to find the final resting places of famous people (see the Pere Lachaise cemetary blogs of 2 years ago) so how could we resist that of Mr. Capone? Its way creepy that grass never grows in front of Al's gravestone. There used to be a huge bush planted in front of the family marker so that strange grave seekers couldn't find it. Next time any of you come out to visit, be sure to fly into O'hare so we can take you to see the mobsta cemetery.